suínovssumiçoTell them apart

Quick tell: suíno is a adjective, sumiço is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“suíno” is an adjective and “sumiço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,664
“suíno” frequency rank
#21,888
“sumiço” frequency rank
58552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suíno sumiço
Definition relacionado com os animais porcinos, do gênero Sus ato ou efeito de sumir; desaparecimento

Where the eye mixes suíno and sumiço

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. suíno runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against sumiço's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
suíno
6 ch
sumiço

Look-alike desk: suíno vs sumiço

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suíno is /ˈswi.nu/ while sumiço is /su.ˈmi.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suíno is recorded at frequency rank #36,664, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈswi.nu/. sumiço is at rank #21,888, tagged as anoun, pronounced /su.ˈmi.su/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 58552, this pair ranks #8,687 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of suíno vs sumiço

Shared letters: osu. Private to "suíno": ní. Private to "sumiço": imç.

"suíno" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "sumiço" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "suíno" for "sumiço" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "suíno" is an adjective and "sumiço" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "suíno" vs "sumiço" - which ranks higher?
"sumiço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,888 in our Portuguese list, against #36,664 for "suíno". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "suíno" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sumiço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,687 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suíno" and "sumiço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sueño vs suíno". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #8,687 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list